


Days Gone By

by bearinapotatosack



Category: Day6 (Band), GOT7, ITZY (Band), Stray Kids (Band), TWICE (Band)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Arguing, Barbecue, Crossover, F/F, Fluff, JYP Nation - Freeform, Jy - Freeform, M/M, Moving, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2020-09-29 15:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 8,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20438537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bearinapotatosack/pseuds/bearinapotatosack
Summary: Wonpil, Dowoon and the rest of their adoptive family have moved into a new neighbourhood, full of elite people. But how will they deal with this new environment? And could the past change everything they've come to know?





	1. On the Move

Wonpil walked up to the car, his final box in hand as he shoved it into the already packed car. He sighed, even though he hadn’t lived in the house for too long, it was the first place he’d truly experienced a home. And now it was gone. Someone else’s. A thing of the past.

“Wonpil!” Sungjin yelled from the car, his hands flying about in frustration. “Get in the car! We need to go!”

A loud beep broke him from his trance as he pulled his earphones out of his pocket and hopped into the car next to Dowoon, the only blood family he had left. 

Looking to his right, he saw Young K lean his head against the window and extend his arm forward to squeeze Jae’s shoulder. Jae was excitedly babbling on about their new house, their new jobs, their new lives! From Wonpil’s position in the back, he could see the strain on Sungjin’s face as he watched his cousin-in-law give him a gradually worse headache.

The car started, jumping the family forwards in shock and waking Dowoon from his slumber. Eventually, the car ride smoothed out and Wonpil pressed play on his phone, drowning out the intense noises of excitement coming from his family. 

* * *

_ This didn’t feel right. This felt wrong. Different. _

_ He didn’t want to meet a new family. ‘ _ Why couldn’t he go with that other family? _ ’ Wonpil thought as he settled into the slightly comfortable chair alongside his brother Dowoon. ‘ _I don’t want to meet this Sungjin, or whatever his name was’

_ Dowoon was staring out the window at the road, it was obvious he was sick of the constant meetings with families that would never adopt both of them. Not even their social workers had much hope that they could be adopted together. _

_ “Wonpil! Dowoon!” Their social workers called their attention, the brothers sat up sharply as they realised what time it was. “You’re new possible family is here!” _

_ Dowoon looked at his brother and lovingly squeezed shoulders. The door opened, three men walked through, looking hopeful. Reluctantly, Wonpil decided to go along and give this new family a chance. _

_ “Annyeong Haseyo! I’m Sungjin!” A tallish man waved at the teens, he looked excited, a usual response that the brothers had. _

_ Another man, taller than Sungjin but not as tall as the last, introduced himself next. “Mannaseo Bangapseubnida! I’m Jae, I’ll like an Uncle to you!” The man, Jae, had an American accent, he may had married into the family unless there was another factor. _

_ The last person to introduce himself was the tallest man, “Annyeong Haseyo, I’m Young K, or at least that’s what I like being called,” He smiled and sat down close to Jae, closer than could be considered friends. _

_ With that, Wonpil and Dowoon shuffled around, clearing their throats as they prepared themselves for their introductions. “Annyeong Haseyo, I’m Wonpil, I’m the eldest out of the two of us,” He shot them a sheepish smile as he let Dowoon introduce himself. _

_ “Annyeong Haseyo, I’m Dowoon, the youngest,” Dowoon was always one of few words. _

_ With introductions over the five settled down to carry on further conversation, yet nothing happened until a few minutes later when Jae spoke up and said. “Well, why don’t we tell you a bit about ourselves?” _

* * *

The car sputtered to a stop, it was an old car that had been handed down to Sungjin by his parents. With a huff, everyone stepped out into the humid air and looked at their new street. 

“Well this is certainly...different,” Jae muttered, it was clear that everyone agreed. 

Wonpil peered both ways up and down the street, lining the pavement were large, modern houses with wooden panels, floor to ceiling glass and dazzling white plaster. He returned his gaze back to their house. It was nothing compared to the others. 

On their side of the road there was a slope, all the other houses were built on slits and still managed to look modern and cool. Their house on the other hand was small, made of light brown, wooden slats, bordered with a warm brown fence that matched the stilts the building was standing on. 

“Aigoo,” Sungjin muttered, clearly annoyed at how small their house was compared to the others. Wonpil didn’t understand, he’d chosen the house and seen their neighbours, why was he only showing his annoyance now? 

Then again, he worked two jobs and had to look after four other people in their house, ‘_ Time isn’t always on his side _’ Wonpil thought as he carried on staring at their house. 

“I mean, it’s very quaint.” Jae exclaimed, Young K was grinning happily at his husband. Although in South Korea same-sex marriage was illegal, it was legal in Jae’s home state of California. Young K squeezed Jae’s hand and lead him to the back of the car to grab a few boxes. 

Sungjin followed them to the car to grab a stack of boxes, gesturing towards Wonpil and Dowoon to help. They went through the continuous cycle of carrying all the boxes into the house, beginning to unpack just as the furniture truck arrived.

* * *

It had been a long day, they had gotten all the furniture in its general place and were sitting down after eating some of Sungjin’s signature kimchi. He was always the most prepared, making everyone pack on efficiently and even packing Wonpil and Dowoon’s things during the week due to school. One of these preparations included making and fermenting enough kimchi to last them for the week when they were all too tired to cook after work. 

Wonpil sighed and got up, moving towards the stairs. He scanned the room as he went. There were two sofas, one against a short wall and the other ninety-degrees from it, facing the television. There were many items on the television stand, a playstation, books and of course Jae’s plant- Calvin the Cactus. Next to the miniature living room was the front door, lined with a bowl for keys, coat hooks and, of course, shoe racks. 

The kitchen was behind the stairs, filled with modern counters and a table that just fitted in- next to it was a small bathroom. They’d had a productive day, there were still plenty of things left to do and many items were still in their boxes. 

Wonpil reached his basic bedroom, for now it just had a bed, a wardrobe with a set of drawers and a desk. But he couldn’t care now, all he wanted to do was collapse on his bed and fall asleep.

This summer had already begun so stressfully, ‘_ Hopefully it would be better from now on, _’ he thought as he closed his eyes and let sleep take him. 

Little did he know that Dowoon had been scared out of his mind. It took him a while to fully trust new people, a habit of his and that only one who knows of. Wonpil. Who was now currently sound asleep.


	2. Unexpected Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While unpacking, our beloved family have a shock when Wonpil seems to know some of the neighbours.

The sun streamed in gently, softly caressing his face as he awoke. Wonpil opened and rubbed his eyes in an attempt to take some fatigue away from his face. He sighed, remembering where he was and what his day would hold- unpacking hundreds of boxes. 

“Wonpil! Joeun Achimieyo!” Sungjin appeared in the doorway, behind it was a simple, white modern desk with a laptop sitting on top. His bed was around the corner, covered his plain white sheets and a blue patterned blanket; a small wardrobe and drawers set held all his clothes- they had worked hard yesterday to move the furniture in.

“Come on, I’ve made breakfast!” Sungjin said, Wonpil had just noticed that he was wearing an apron and was shaking a spatula at him. “I’ve made Kimchi Fried Rice with Eggs, come on, before it gets cold!”

Wonpil sighed again, he hadn’t slept a lot, ‘ _ Probably just need time to adjust, _ ’ he thought as he followed Sungjin down the stairs. Gradually, more voices began to emerge as Young K, Jae and Dowoon were all squabbling over portion sizes at the table. 

“Jae, Dowoon’s younger he should get the bigger portion!” Young K argued.

“Exactly! He’s younger he should get a smaller portion!” Jae replied as he tried to reach over his husband to reach the large pan. But to no avail, Young K merely placed the pan closer towards Dowoon and now Wonpil as he joined the table. 

“Annyeonghaseyo,” Wonpil said and briefly waving as he let Sungjin scoop food onto his plate. 

The table quietened as everyone began to tuck in, taking spoonfuls of the few side dishes Sungjin had made. ‘ _ He truly is an amazing cook _ ’ Wonpil thought as he pitched into his dad’s itinerary for the day.

“So, now that we’ve unpacked most of the stuff for the bedrooms and bathroom, we need to unpack the rest of the house,” Sungjin read off an itinerary in his head and slurped up some of the Miyeok Guk. “Dowoon and Wonpil will can unpack the boxes and us three will put the stuff away,”

Everyone nodded and carried on eating with polite conversation as they did, Jae explained a weird dream he had where he had been driving along a never ending road, trying to get somewhere. Dowoon however was quiet, a habit he had picked up after years of moving in with foster families and being returned back to the children’s home months later.

Wonpil gave him a small smile to encourage him, it was briefly returned, but was replaced with his usual straight face when he picked up the dishes and loaded the dishwasher. With a sigh, he ran upstairs, grabbed his headphones and plonked himself down in front of a box that read ‘Kitchen’.

* * *

It was two hours later, there were only a few boxes left and Wonpil was slowly getting through his playlist. Dowoon was in a trance across the room, picking up items out of their box and passing them to the nearest person. 

Despite Wonpil being older, most people thought it was the other way around- with people looking at how cute he was and assuming he was the youngest. He paused his music and shuffled over to his brother.

“Anything wrong?” He asked, only getting a look in return. “It’s just that you’ve been really quiet and I know you go quiet when you’re not okay,”

Dowoon shifted uncomfortably in his cross-legged position, picking us a vase covered in bubble wrap and turning it in his hand. No reply. The two sat silently unpacking the box in front of them as Wonpil let his brother gather up the courage to say something.

A heavy sigh came and then Dowoon’s reaction- finally. “It’s just the move and the new school we’re going to at the end of the summer,” He put down the vase and looked at Wonpil. “And all the people we have to meet, all the rich people,”

“It’s overwhelming?” Wonpil said, even if he already knew the answer, Dowoon nodded. “It is for me too, although I know we’re with the same family, I can’t help but feel like it’s the same as a new family,” They both hummed and sat together for a while before returning to the task at hand. 

Everyone carried on in the effective routine until the doorbell rang. Sungjin snapped around, slamming a plant onto the kitchen table and running towards the door- yelling at everyone to make themselves look smarter. 

“Palli!” Sungjin shouted, pushing everyone at the door to make them look like a semi-normal family. 

The door opened to reveal a group of seven men, one holding a bottle of red wine and another carrying a flowering cactus. Their smiles were faultless and outfits pristine, Wonpil saw the flash of disappointment in Sungjin’s eyes as he scanned their family and their mismatched outfits.

“Annyeonghaseyo!” The man at the front waved and pushed the bottle of wine into his hands. “I’m Jinyoung, the mother of the family, welcome to the neighbourhood!”

He shook hands with Sungjin, then Young K and Jae before introducing everyone. “To my left is Yugyeom, our youngest, then Mark, the eldest,” The two boys looked like they were close to Wonpil and Dowoon’s age. “Then there’s Jackson, BamBam and Youngjae,” The family looked picturesque, as if they modelled as a family on the side.

There was one more person on the opposite side of Jinyoung, he looked cold and contemplative but soon lit up when he introduced himself. “I’m JB, the father of the family, it’s nice to see some new faces in the neighbourhood!”

Wonpil pondered for a moment, ‘ _ Had he met this couple before? _ ’, he looked back at the family and wracked his memories for their faces. As he did so, Sungjin shook hands with JB and started to show off his household.

“And this is Wonpil, our eldest son,” His face shone with a smile, whether it was forced or genuine no one could tell but Wonpil decided he was too busy trying to place Jinyoung and JB in his mind. 

Yet, when said mother-figure met his eyes, it all came back to him.

* * *

_ He was younger, in his last few years in middle school, when he met them. _

_ It was a cool autumn day, cars went past outside and the ticking of the clock pinched his skin with every passing second.  _

_ ‘ _ I can’t believe I’m doing this? _ ’ Wonpil thought as he clenched at his trousers. Taking a deep breath he went back over what had happened over the last few weeks.  _

_ It had all started when his social worker approached him, giving him some harrowing information that they were thinking of putting Wonpil and Dowoon up for adoption separately. Something about siblings rarely being adopted, he said, despite the fact that plenty of parents had wanted to adopt them both. _

_ So here he was, drilling through what to say and expect as he waited for the person who dictated his life to walk through that door. Which he did after a few minutes of waiting. _

_ His social worker opened the door and gave Wonpil a smile as a young couple walked in. They wore crisply ironed clothing, happiness shone on their faces as they sat down. _

_ “So, Annyeonghaseyo!” One of them said, turning out to be JB. “It’s nice to meet you!” _

_ The conversation was stiff at the start, Wonpil barely meeting their eyes so they wouldn’t consider this, wouldn’t consider separating him from his brother.  _

_ They asked him about his family and school life, even explaining that they hated that they could be separating the brothers but weren’t in a position to adopt two children at the time. _

_ “I understand,” Wonpil left his answers short. ‘ _ Don’t give them anything, then they won’t adopt you, _ ’ was running around his head- yet he rebelled for some unknown reason. “I’ve been in other households that were overcrowded or could just afford to foster us, it wasn’t fun,” _

_ Silence. Not awkward, but silence nonetheless. The sound of breathing harmonised with the cars outside and all gazes fixed somewhere around the room.  _

_ Jinyoung broke the break in conversation by leaning forwards and taking Wonpil’s hand in his. “If we adopt you, we won’t stop you seeing your brother, maybe we could even adopt him at a later date!” _

_ “We just want you to feel comfortable, Wonpil,” JB added with a smile, partially melting his icy exterior. _

_‘_Maybe this won’t be too bad?_’ A fleeting thought suggested both shocked and intrigued Wonpil as he smiled and laughed with his possible future family._

* * *

He blinked back into the present day, after staring vacantly at the new family on his doorstep. Jinyoung and JB seemed to be having the same realisation- looking between themselves and Wonpil. 

“...pil! Wonpil!” Sungjin was shaking him, smiling awkwardly and apologising to the family. “He’s just tired, joesonghapmida!”

Wonpil finally shook his head and took one last fleeting look at his brother before announcing that he needed to go upstairs. The room began to turn fuzzy as he stormed up the stairs and slammed his door, letting the hot tears sear his face as he crumpled onto the floor. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took me a while because I had exams half was through writing but it’s here! And on Wattpad too!


	3. To the Barbecue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Day family go to the street's barbecue.

It had been few restless, busy days since the move. Sungjin had conquered the kitchen, occupying it for days preparing food for the barbecue. Young K had mistakenly entered one morning to get an apple, when he found something unexpected.

A crazed Sungjin was leaning over a chopping board, knife in hand, as he reveled in the clutter of plates and serving equipment all over the counters. He speedily cut some spring onions for the rice he had made four times already. Over the past few days, he'd delivered plates of 'inadequate' food to everyone before hurrying back to his domain to continue creating.

From what Wonpil had been told, all it took was Sungjin being touched on the shoulder for him to snap and turn to face his cousin. "Mwo?!" A few grains of rice had apparently fell from his cheek as he spun around, knife wielded by the defensive man, "Can't. You. See. I'm. Trying. To. Cook." Young K then fled the room, both out of fear and the pain of restricting laughter. 

Now, Sungjin was out of the kitchen and pushing bowls and plates into everyone's hands, shooting harsh looks at any protestors. He picked up one of the last dishes from the table and handed it to Dowoon, who raised an eyebrow. 

"Why do we need Kimchi?" Jae inquired, gripping a plate of marinated pork ribs with white knuckles after being scolded by the resident mother of the house, "It's a Korean barbecue, there'll be plenty of Kimchi."

With a sigh, Sungjin ran a hand over his face, as if he was sick of repeating himself. "This is the third and final time I will say this, there will be a Kimchi cook-off! And we are going to win." A general hum of amusement rippled across the group, including a 'Wow' from Dowoon- who was now looking down, pleased with the Kimchi. 

The family trailed out of the house, up the hill and crossed the street. Every house was gleaming white in the summer sun, reminding Wonpil of the pictures of LA Jae had shown him. Their house sat squatting behind them, weathered wood painting years onto its frame. 

A few cars sped down the road as they stepped onto the pathway leading to the house. Lined with neat bushes and plants, everyone's shoes crunched on the delicate grey gravel as they approached the white door. 

Jae rang the doorbell with his elbow, a pleasant chime, and after a few minutes, Mark answered the door with a charming smile. He lead them through a few corridors, all white with different abstract paintings adorning the walls. Their shoes tapped against the gleaming tiles and the faint sounds of a piano duet were coming from the back of the house. This turned out to be Youngjae and Yugyeom, who were sitting under a skylight at a large grand piano. 

"Well this is a bit formal for a barbeque," Commented Jae, causing the family to look at their outfits with a new outlook of pity. 

Mark lead them to the back garden where a large group of people mingled around the spiky blades of grass. The faint smell of the barbecue, along with the sound, wafted through the air as they settled on the clean, stone patio. 

With thunderous footsteps, a small group of five made their way up to them, looking ecstatic, "Ah, the new family!" They shook hands and exchanged names as the girls talked about how amazing having another small family on the street.

There was Yeji, a brunette woman who was holding hands with her partner Ryujin, a shorter woman who was acting weirdly parental with the other girls around her. One, Chaeryeong, was touching her hair while the other two, Lia and Yuna, were babbling about something to each other

"I bet you're wondering how we can 'parent' these three while only being a few years older," Ryujin said, laughing as she thought of her explanation. Yeji stepped forward and quickly described how they'd grown up in a care home together, and Yeji and Ryujin had adopted the others as soon as they could. 

For the next few minutes they continued chatting until the conversation began to run dry and, more importantly, the first plates of food were being served off the barbecue. 

Bugoli beef, pork ribs along with various salads and other side dishes laid out on the large farmhouse table. People crowded round, plates in hand, as they picked and grabbed at the succulent foods. 

The sun started to shine gently across the garden, shimmering off the pool and spreading an overall positive atmosphere as Young K and Jae went over to talk to Bangchan, the resident parent of a rowdy group of boys, and Sungjin started to mingle with the other parents- leaving Wonpil and Dowoon alone. 


	4. A Rivalry

The Sun was still blaring in the sky as Wonpil stood close to his brother, making polite conversation with some girls from another large family, called Dahyun, Sana and Momo. Their family seemed to be the closest, apart from the rowdy boys that were filling the garden with laughter, the parents were an extroverted, professional couple who seemed to have their life balanced with parenting- a trait that every parent seemed to have in this new neighbourhood. 

Gradually, the girls went away to talk to some people that they actually knew which left Wonpil and Dowoon standing in an only partially comfortable silence. Jinyoung was meandering around the small clumps of people and eventually stopped at the two boys. 

"How are you finding the barbecue?" He asked, swirling a drink in his hand as he waved at someone who was arriving. 

Dowoon smiled, his head down towards the ground slightly whereas Wonpil felt mildly calmed at the presence of someone he knew. "It's amazing, I've never seen so much delicious food before,"

"Thank you, but you're too kind, it was mostly the others on the street," He chuckled and tucked a stray hair behind his ear. "How do you like the neighbourhood?"

"It's good, it's nice to have so much space," Dowoon said.

Wonpil gulped, remembering the immense state of stress Sungjin had developed over the last month, especially once they’d arrived and he had seen the glorious houses and people they were surrounded by. He wondered if he should tell any of this to Jinyoung, even if he knew him from before, they’d only spoken once after years of inadvertently forgetting each other. “Yeah, it’s good, but we have to say it’s been stressful,”

Jinyoung’s face was covered in concern, which he quickly got rid of before replying, “Oh, yes, moving house is very stressful, especially when you’re living out of boxes for months on end,” He laughed breathily, not fully getting what Wonpil meant when he said stressful. 

The three went to staring at people, everyone seemed to be mingling perfectly, Young K had successfully won over a group of people, accompanied by Jae and Sungjin. For a moment, Wonpil relaxed, letting himself think that they had made it and that even if they had less than their neighbours they would be alright. 

But of course, Wonpil couldn’t just revel in the calm life he’d acquired, as he continued his comment. “It’s not just moving though, being amongst so many happy, rich, basically perfect families, it’s getting Sungjin really worked up,” Dowoon gave his brother a serious look, one that hinted at his anger at Wonpil for sharing their families secrets. 

"How?"

"He cooked and trialled food recipes for days on end not to mention how long he's worked to get us away from the city," Wonpil said, swirling his drink as he noticed Sungjin leave the large group he was a part of and join his sons. 

The conversation went dry for a moment, Jinyoung was deep in thought while everyone waited for someone to speak. At some point, a dessert of fruit and yogurt was brought out along with some other cakes and pastries that seemed to go down well.

Dowoon and Sungjin had just gone to leave when Jinyoung spoke gently once more, "If anything ever gets too much at home, not always in a bad way, but if you or your brother need something, I'm always here," He smiled and touched Wonpil's shoulder, making him think of the days when he had almost adopted him. 

"What did you say?" Sungjin had stopped in his tracks and turned to face his apparent rival. His behaviour had seemed off for the past few months, Sungjin had always been a caring, goofy parent to Dowoon and him but ever since they'd planned to move he'd let stress overcome him, the responsibility of being a carer and supplying his sons with the best making him go slightly sour. "Why should  _ my  _ son go to you if things get tough? He has a family for that."

Jinyoung looked speechless, Dowoon had pulled Wonpil away from the scene, almost like a subconscious decision from their birth family. All the accused could say was a spluttered, "I- He just said that-"

"Why should there be any problems at home anyway?" Sungjin's voice got louder, attracting the attention of others around them. Wonpil backed away more, wanting nothing more than to disappear, for the ground to swallow him where he stood. "Or are you assuming that I'm a bad parent?"

"I wasn't assuming anything, but the way you're acting isn't helping your case!"

The argument blew up from there, with Young K and Jae trying to calm Sungjin down and JB pulling his husband away from the fight. Wonpil and Dowoon felt themselves being tugged away too, by the rowdy boys who were determined to get them alone.

"Come with us, we can get you away from this," A boy who was relatively tall with a slightly long nose and kind eyes smiled at them. "I'm Han, we have a place to get away,"

"I'm Changbin," Another boy put an arm around Wonpil and led them to the smooth, white, wooden gate at the back of the garden. 

The boys led them through it and down a steep hill where there was a small field bordered by trees. Slowly, they were introduced to all the others, there was Jeongin and Hyunjin who stood close to each other, Minho and Felix who were deep in conversation and Seungmin who had his arm around Dowoon. 

Soon, they hopped through the fence of bushes and saw a slow decline down to a clear creek. The boys' moods seemed to get even better as Felix immediately took off his top and jumped in the water, followed by some of the others. It was strange, how easily Wonpil and Dowoon were accepted and how well the boys knew this creek.

Seungmin picked up on their mild confusion, "One of our Dad's, Woojin, works all over the world so we don't see him as often as we'd like. It gets hard so we come here to escape," He smiled and led them down to a flat part on the minor hill.

"Does your other Dad know?" Dowoon asked, he looked calmer now they were away from the stress. 

"Oh, Bangchan? He knows, he actually likes how we have a place to come to escape from everything," Seungmin finished and took off his shoes to dip his feet in the smooth water. "Now enough with the questions, let's have fun!" 

The two brothers followed Seungmin into the cold water ready to splash around with the boys when a distant shout was heard. 

"Did you guys hear that?" Wonpil questioned Felix with a now worried expression.

"Just forget about that it was probably nothing, relax." Felix replied to the older brother with a hope to calm him down. 

"Yea, Wonpil calm down" Dowoon spoke in a soft voice.

Wonpil tried to loosen up but he couldn't forget that scream that sounded a lot like Sungjin.


	5. The Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sungjin struggles to process the last few hours and comes up with a radical idea.

It was the early evening, Jae's head was in his hands as Sungjin ranted and raved on and on about-about. Well, he didn't know, it wasn't the barbecue anymore or Jinyoung. He heaved and sat back up in his chair, placing his feet on the chair next to him as he went over the last few hours in his head.

  
It had only been a few minutes since the argument when they'd noticed the boys were gone. This really sent Sungjin over the edge, he marched all over the garden, the house, their home and up and down the street. No one could find them.

  
He had eventually began shouting at random things and people so loudly that Young K insisted he go on searching while Jae brought him home to calm down. 

  
Looking at him now, he hadn't really calmed down, rather, he was focusing on one specific thing- how bad this neighbourhood was.

  
"The people are so judgemental, they've known me for how long? A week? An afternoon? And they already think I'm a bad parent?" Sungjin ranted, his hands were on his forehead as he walked up and down the kitchen.

  
"Well, in their defence, the first thing you did was start an argument with a guy 'cause he was talking to your son," He shrugged, realising how dangerous what he said was when Sungjin shot him a look that could kill. "But they also shouldn't have been so quick to judge?"

  
It was a bad attempt at fixing things, yet he had managed to make him sit down and finally let himself breathe. 

  
Sungjin lay his head on the table, exhaling long and slow as his shoulders slumped and he swore multiple times under his breath. They sat there for a moment, both willing that door to open with Young K, Wonpil and Dowoom all together.

  
So far, Jae hadn't truly mentioned how much he was worrying, that was all on the inside. He knew that in stressful situations kids just wanted to get away, he'd felt that many times. But with the boys' reputation for running away from homes, he couldn't help but think of how their social workers may take this. 

  
Sungjin broke the tense silence, "A few months ago, I never thought I could be this stressed, ever," Jae cocked an eyebrow in response, forcing him to continue his new rant. "I mean, me, you and Young K all had jobs, the boys were stable in school and we had a nice apartment in the city,"

  
"Yeah?"

  
"But look what happened, we saw this house, got too happy and now Wonpil and Dowoon have gone and I screamed at a guy I barely know," The defeat in his voice was almost heartbreaking.

  
Ever since Young K had introduced them, the three had got along to the point where Jae and his husband were eager to become uncles to the dream kids Sungjin had always wanted. So seeing him feel so hopeless was a struggle. 

  
The two fell into silence again. Jae could see the cogs working in his head as he came up with a solution for the seemingly gigantic problem they had- even if a family talk would solve it. He spoke up, his voice cold and more leader like, “We should move.”

  
Jae’s mouth fell open. He couldn’t think of anything to say. His mind became a fog of confusion instantly. Their eyes locked onto each others once more and the pure determination in his eyes forced him to say something. “We just got here!”

  
“We’ve been here for a week and we’re obviously not the kind of people to live here,”

  
Sungjin got up again and poured himself a glass of water, it was only now that Jae noticed how much his hands were shaking. This entire situation had thrown him off for the past few months.

  
Before any of this, Sungjin had been hard working but still relaxed, always telling everyone that change came gradually and to not worry too much- Young K usually received the most of these lectures. It wasn’t a secret though, amongst the adults, that this perfect family ideal he had in his head was making him stressed. Everyone in there surrounding apartments were a nuclear family and no matter how hard Jae or Young K tried to tell him, he always thought that if he could do more, get more and be more, that their family would fit the stereotypes. But this pressure was finally making him crack.

  
Jae was going to mention all of this when his husband and the boys walked through the door, all looking relieved until they saw the state of Sungjin. 

  
“Where have you been?” He shouted, slamming his glass onto the counter and grabbing his sons into a strong hug, a rare act for him. “Do you know how worried you had all of us?”

  
“Sungjin, please, I’ve already given them the whole lecture of running off, give them a break,” Young K squeezed Dowoon’s shoulder and went to stand next to Jae, who had shot up from his chair as soon as the three arrived back. 

  
Sungjin ignored this though, pulling them all back over to the kitchen table to voice the crazy idea that was still fresh in his mind. His hands were linked together and the confidence was still in his eyes, albeit turning more into a false persona than any true certainty. 

  
Wonpil and Dowoon’s faces were drawn tight, their gazes were on the plain table in front of them as they awaited another, much more fierce rant from their Dad. 

  
“I’m sorry, for starting that argument, Jinyoung wasn’t doing anything wrong,” This caught the two off guard, they’d no doubt been expecting to be shouted at based on how he’d greeted them at the door. “You obviously know how stressed I’ve been over the past few months and I guess that actually being here and finding out if this whole move has been a mistake was the final straw,” Wonpil reached across and placed a hand on his, smiling cutely as both him and his brother forgave him.

  
The family all joked for a moment, about how stupid they were all being, that they’d lost themselves here as they adjusted. This clearly relaxed their sons as Dowoon was finally back to his naturally fun state, Wonpil was laughing and Young K’s shoulders untensed as he poured water for everyone. 

  
Sungjin broke this too, which in his defense seemed to be a hard thing to do after cheering everyone up. “If you think about, we’ve all been different ever since we got here and, after I got back from looking, I started to think,” He took one look at the confused expressions of his sons and decided to just come out with what he was going to say. “I don’t think this house, this neighbourhood is right for us,”

  
“How do you mean?” Young K asked. 

  
“I mean, look at this weekend, I randomly shouted at someone and Wonpil and Dowoon ran off for the first time under our care,” He replied, his face exploding into excitement as he stood up. “Wouldn’t it just be better if we moved back to our old neighbourhood?”

  
Young K let out an annoyed moan, his head falling back off his chair and his shoulders tensed again, “There are so many problems with that idea!” 

  
Sungjin couldn’t see this, as he stepped forwards and raised an eyebrow as he gestured for him to explain. 

  
“One, that would be so expensive, two, this is one bad experience, and three, what about all of us?” This made everyone else nod in agreement, a kind of unity that Jae noticed was helping the two boys who had probably had enough disagreements for one day. 

“But, Wonpil and Dowoon could go back to their old school, with their old friends and we’d be around more people like us!”

  
“What is that supposed to mean?” Wonpil said softly, his eyes now back on the table as he avoided his Dad’s gaze. “Just because everyone around here has money doesn’t mean they’ve got it out for us!”

  
“You had the idea to move away from our old apartment, and we just went along with it. But now we’re here and we’ve already been through enough change, you want to rewind everything and go back instead of making here work for us!” He continued, raising his voice and standing up, kicking his chair as he walked around- anger dissipating into the air around him. “Why don’t you just give this neighbourhood more than a week, so you can really see how nice this place and its people are when you’re not shouting at them!”

A lost expression filled Sungjin’s face, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides as he took another glance at the room, particularly holding his gaze on Dowoon, who had stayed silent and stoic as his brother argued. It was in this instant that his finally sat down, not giving up the fight but accepting that everyone needed some time to cool off and take in the day. 

  
“Fine. I’ll give this place a chance,” He muttered, his eyes covered by his hand as he spoke with shame. “But, it will take a lot to change my mind about this place and especially its people who, I might add, immediately judged me as a horrible father,”

Dowoon perked up at this statement, perhaps it was because there wouldn’t be another big change after all, or maybe it was just because the fighting was finally being put to rest. He gave a smile to his brother as he nodded and thanked his Dad for giving this place, which he’d been so indifferent to, an opportunity. 

Wonpil did the same, without making anyone else such a surprise, and joined his brother upstairs. Jae stood up too, patting Sungjin on the back and declaring that he was going to take a very much overdue bath, leading Young K upstairs so they too could discuss everything. 

Sungjin himself sat staring for a while, taking in the ceiling and the light before letting out an exuberant sigh and carrying himself up the stairs to sleep the rest of the day away. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this!


	6. The Make Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two families make up.

It was another day and, yet again, the family were standing outside the glamorous house with its immaculate garden and tidy front lawn. The five of them, Sungjin, Young K, Jae, Wonpil and Dowoon were dressed in their best casual outfits and had been building up the courage to enter said house and face what had happened a few days earlier.

After the argument, both families had insisted that their harshly broken bond be fixed by a small get together with Jinyoung and his family. Sungjin had been stubborn to go but after a lot of convincing by the rest of them, he’d reluctantly decided to go.

“Look, only good things can come of this, alright?” Young K said, beaming a smile at his family as he led them up to the door and knocked. “We all want to get over this fight, don’t we?”

The other four gave off a general positive response just as the door swung open to reveal Youngjae and Jackson, dressed in comfortable looking shirts and trousers. Their faces were drawn tight, they too were dreading the possibility of an argument. The group were lead through the gleaming white corridors, looking at the pictures they'd seen a few days previously and turning down a different path, walking down the short set of stairs and into a large room.

It was a sort of conservatory, the three exterior walls were all shining, floor to ceiling windows. In the middle of the room was a long glass table covered in elegantly stacked cakes and pastries, teapots were on either end and the rest of the family that they were visiting sat casually chatting, until they saw their guests. 

The atmosphere went tense. Both families nodded to each other, taking up the empty places and waiting for the two families, or rather the two people who had argued, to apologise. 

Jackson began to pour everyone drinks into their delicately painted teacups, his hands tense around the fragile teapot as he walked around the table. The sun gleamed through the trees and reflected onto the table, making the floating dust particles visible like miniscule pixies all around them. Gradually, plates began to fill up with the sweet treats that adorned the table, no one was talking still but the food was acting as a sufficient distraction. 

"I think we've procrastinated enough, don't you?" Sungjin said, making a few of the quieter people jump as he did. "I am sorry for arguing with you, it was uncalled for and wrong,"

Jinyoung gave him a small smile and responded, "Thank you, I'm sorry too, we shouldn't have let the argument get that bad,"

The room gave a sigh of relief, everyone flooded into peaceful conversation as Sungjin, Jinyoung and JB discussed their disagreement, their reasons why and, eventually, their children. BamBam was loudly discussing pets with Dowoon and Young K while Jae and Wonpil laughed along with Yugyeom and Jackson. 

All tension was gone and for the first time in a long while, Sungjin let himself breathe and enjoy his new neighbourhood. 

"Maybe it isn't so bad living here," Sungjin mumbled while looking towards the descending sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this!


	7. A Day Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The youths of the street go on a day out.

The train carriage rushed through another tunnel, the populus group had somehow claimed it to themselves for the entire journey as they got further and further into the main city of Seoul. Some of them were standing as the carriage sped from the peaceful suburbs where they all lived to the bustling city, Wonpil was sitting next to his brother as they failed to hide their smiles. 

Today was an exciting day, almost every teen in their street had decided to take a shopping trip, mostly to buy stationary and school supplies since they were all still studying and needed to stock up, but also to properly connect without their parents there- who were all working.

The gentle air conditioning had made the journey comfortable so far, as today had reached record temperatures along with the intense humidity making them all feel as though they were melting. Because of this, they were all wearing various combinations of shorts, skirts, t-shirts and dresses along with the hats, sunglasses and suncream they’d all been forced to bring with them. The fashion of some of their fellow teens astounded Wonpil, particularly BamBam, who had a particular passion for style. 

After a few more minutes of travel, the tannoy announced their arrival in their local shopping district and they all poured out of the doors, to the shock of those waiting to board. They all grouped together and decided a plan of action, deciding to split into groups and go to shops rather than bombard the poor shopkeepers with twenty-four rambunctious teens on a hot summer’s day. 

The two brothers found themselves being dragged along with BamBam, Yugyeom, Jackson, Han, Seungmin and Felix, who were all individual balls of energy and were purely chaotic all together. 

The eight gradually made their way through the various shops, looking at all sorts of colourful bags with plants, cats and food printed on them. Most of them were a bit over Wonpil and Dowoon’s budget, but with the others made sure to make jokes about everything they saw.

Next, they found themselves in a stationary shop that was, most likely, larger than their entire house. There were two levels, one with notepads, paper and envelopes, the other with pens, pencils, rulers, highlighters and plenty more, this is where most of everyone’s budget went, with them all using all of these daily and for great amounts of time too. 

“Wonpil! Wonpil!” Dowoon called from a stand near the back of the shop. “I found you!” 

Wonpil and a few of the others followed his voice, only to see him pointing at the extensive array of pencils on show. He gave him a deadpan look before bursting into a open laugh.

“You never told me you were cloned!” He continued as the others just watched, confused. The two eventually let them in on the joke, and went to the counters to pay for their heavy hauls of supplies before heading over to the food court to catch something to eat.

Wonpil found it interesting to see what everyone went for, some went for noodles, others went for rice cakes and a few of them went for shared dishes. They took up one corner at the back of the room, playing music and dancing as they laughed.

At one point, Wonpil was dragged into dancing with Chaeryoung, Yuna and Momo, he was glad to be among a group of people who liked the arts as much as him, a lot of the people on the street wanted to go to into the arts, some were even attending speciality arts schools.

Whenever he had free time, he loved to play his keyboard, write songs and relax as he played his music. It allowed him to completely unwind and shut off when life was getting scary. 

They spent the rest of the afternoon traipsing around other shops, Changbin, Felix and BamBam all went into clothes shops, Wonpil lead Dowoon to a rather nerdy shop so he could increase his collection of action figures.

Near the end of the day, the group were making their way back to the train station when BamBam stopped them outside a cat shelter.

"Look at that one," He said quietly, pointing at an elegant sphinx cat that was playing with another.

The two times that Wonpil and Dowoon had been to their house, they'd seen a number of pets running around. They had more than a few cats, a few dogs and even a sugar glider, so it was no surprise that the boy wanted another one.

"I'm gonna get them," He exclaimed as he walked into the shop and came out around half and hour later with a sphinx cat called Latte in a carrier. He fawned over him for the entire trip home, scratching him through the bars of the carrier as they went. 

They arrived home as the sun was dropping lower and lower towards the horizon, most of their parents had returned home and Wonpil only got a glimpse of JB and Jinyoung's reactions to their new pet before he joined his family for dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was fun to write, a bit hard since chapters like this are mainly description and it's hard to make description about shopping interesting, hope you enjoyed this!


	8. The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wonpil and Dowoon reveal their past and learn some things along the way.

The sky was just beginning to melt from pale blue into a pastel orange, the whisps of clouds starting to clump together as the air chilled. Grass was tickling Wonpil’s ankles, daisies springing up around his ankles as he lent back onto his arms. The youths of the street were out yet again, in a picturesque park that was full of fountains, small food stalls and gentle music floating around. 

  
“I have a question for you two,” Mark said, rising up onto his elbows and peering over BamBam and Yugyeom to address Wonpil and Dowoon. “What were your lives like before you were adopted, like do you remember your birth family or have you always been in the care system?”

  
The brothers turned to each other. They knew their story and despite how close they were getting to their neighbours so quickly, not many people apart from their family and their social workers knew their life before. However, most of the people around them must feel this way, it was coincidental how everyone had been in the care system.

  
“Erm, we remember our family before,” Wonpil started once he’d convinced Dowoon that it was safe to tell everyone their story. “We lost them when I was ten and Dowoon was nine,”

  
His eyes clouded slightly, the memory had barely healed over the past seven years, despite getting a new, much better family. “We lived in an apartment in the city, it was a poor area, the building was old and didn’t have a lot of protection,”

  
“Protection, how?” Dahyun asked.

  
“There was a fire, the sprinklers didn’t work and there weren’t enough fire extinguishers, our parents managed to get us out but they didn’t” He sniffed, putting a hand on his brother’s back, who he knew was a lot more sensitive to all of this, it had happened on his birthday after all. “A lot of people died, there was a big lawsuit against the building company, I think, but we didn’t see any of the money,”

  
"I lost some of my family to a fire too," Felix said and waved his hand at the brothers from a few yards away. 

  
Mark spoke again, scanning the group as he spoke about how some of them had been raised in care, others had illness in the family, some were abuse or neglect survivors, others had parents who couldn't afford to care for them.

  
All of this had given the boys a new understanding with the group, everyone here had faced major hardships in their life, things that couldn't be forgotten or could just go away by getting a new family.

  
Some people, like Jackson or Youngjae, had been separated from their siblings when they'd been adopted- something that had caused many arguments in the early years of their adoption. Wonpil could almost say he understood this, he had been close to being adopted separately to Dowoon; he was glad that Sungjin had come along and made sure that the brothers had stayed together.

  
The group all got up eventually, heading to the subway station to go home. There was a more sombre atmosphere around them, having relived and opened up about the most painful parts of themselves so casually.

  
A slight breeze swept his hair off his forehead, ruffling his t-shirt as he stepped onto the train and lent his head on his Dowoon's shoulder. Today had been unexpectedly hard, but there was a part of his that was relieved that it was out in the open, and, more importantly, that their peers had been through something very similar to them.

Wonpil looked down at his brother with a look of gratitude for wanting to stay with him, when he had many offers to go to other families before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this!


	9. Cheer Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wonpil has an idea

Wonpil sighed and threw his pen back onto his desk, finally running out of motivation to procrastinate what he really wanted to do. 

Dowoon had been acting weird all week, distant, zoning out more, doing nothing for hours on end. He knew why, it was the anniversary of the fire, the one that killed their birth parents. He’d tried to cheer him up, despite the subtle sadness he was feeling deep down too; he hated seeing his younger brother so openly sad without talking about it. 

It also didn’t help how everyone had been working all week. Sungjin had been putting in more hours at the office, Young K had been busy too, with his business consultant job getting stressful, Jae’s job, a social media organiser for multiple companies, had forced him to be away from the teens for far too long also. Wonpil had tried to address his worries about his brother multiple times in the evenings, but after such long days, no one would listen, fatigue had already set in by the time they were free.

But, finally, it was the weekend, and even though there was still additional work to be done, everyone was home and Wonpil could finally put his plan into action. 

He left his box room and ran down the stairs to find his carers all watching some talk show with an idol group being interviewed on it, with Young K translating a few words for Jae here and there. His thundering presence in the room made them all turn around as his stomach began to knot and his still hands went clammy by his sides. 

‘What if they say no?’ He thought. ‘We’ve already spent a lot of money this month and I don’t want us to be even worse off than we already are, I’m meant to be proving Sungjin’s insecurities wrong, not proving them right by making us even poorer compared to our neighbours!’

“Wonpil, what’s up?” Jae asked.

“Erm,” His mind went blank for a second before he spoke. “You know what this week is, it’s the anniversary, and I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but Dowoon’s being even more distant than he has been lately, and I have a way we could distract him and make him feel better,”

“What’s your idea?” Young K said, pausing the television.

“It requires money,”

“If it’ll make Dowoon feel better then it doesn’t matter,” Sungjin smiled, his eyes showing that he was slightly calmer than he’d been in the week.

“We could go to a theme park, there’s one that’s only an hour away and it could be a fun day out,” He quickly added. “And we could invite some of the other’s if they wanted to come,”

They smiled and stood up, “That’s a great idea, Wonpil,” they said as they patted him on the back and Young K got out his phone.  
“If you’re talking about Lotte World, then we can probably get coupons online for a discount, so it’ll be cheaper,” Young K began to flick through a few websites as Sungjin called Dowoon down and told him the news.

His face lightened slightly and a hint of a smile crept onto his face, this was a good idea after all, his first ever trip to the theme park he'd always wished he could go to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this!

**Author's Note:**

> I’m writing this with my friend, she’s MillielovesGot7 on Wattpad (where this will also be posted on my account Bearinapotatosack and her account). She got me into Day6 and I’ve done a lot of research into a lot of other K-Pop groups (other than Got7) that will come into play later on. 
> 
> Feedback is greatly appreciated, your comments and kudos give me life!


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